Sunday

For the second time in the past few days, first responders from the South Walton Fire District found themselves on the scene of a fully involved structure fire.

According to Twitter posts from the SWFD, crews responded to a fire at a home on North Eden Park Drive, off of Chat Holley Road in Santa Rosa Beach late Saturday night.

Within minutes of receiving the initial 9-1-1 call, SWFD units arrived on scene and found heavy fire coming from a three story, unoccupied residential structure, according to a Sunday morning press release from the SWFD.

The second and third floors of the home had already collapsed so SWFD initiated aerial master stream tactics along with additional hose lines and were able to extinguish the fire and keep it from spreading throughout the heavily wooded area.

A joint investigation between the SWFD Fire Marshal and the Florida State Fire Marshal’s Office was conducted and the fire was deemed "to be set and suspicious in nature." At this time the fire is still under investigation by the State Fire Marshal’s Office.

SWFD responded to this incident with two Ladder Trucks, one Engine Company, one Squad, two Rescues and three Chief Officers. Two SWFD firefighters received minor injuries but were treated on scene and released back to duty. The property was estimated to be valued at $407,000 and appeared to be abandoned.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Fire Marshal Sammy Sanchez at 850-267-1298 or ssanchez@swfd.org.